Thursday notes…
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THAT FOURTH GAME…: The Cubs have played four previous fourth games of series this season.
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They won them all: April 23, at home vs. the Phillies, 8-7 in 10 innings; May 7, at home vs. the Reds, 8-3; May 28, at Pittsburgh, 7-2; June 25, at New York vs. the Mets, 4-3. They will play only one more four-game series: Aug. 31-Sept. 3, at home vs. the Brewers. Last year, the Cubs were 3-2 in fourth games, losing the first and last. The middle win was at St. Louis, 3-0, on June 26, to earn a split. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
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THAT FOURTH GAME… IN ST. LOUIS: This is the eighth four-game series at St. Louis since 1962 in which the Cubs won two of the first three games. They were 4-3 in the fourth games of the previous seven. Their last win was in 2017; their last loss, in 2014. In all fourth games at St. Louis since 1962, the Cubs are 14-12. They won in 2024 as well as last year. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
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NIGHT AND DAY: The Cubs are 23-21 in day games this season, but only 5-11 in day games on the road. However, they are 5-6 in day games on the road following night games. In their three such games this month, they lost at Baltimore, 3-2; won at Cincinnati, 8-4; and lost at Pittsburgh, 8-7. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
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GOTTA SCORE TO WIN: When the Cubs have scored no more than two runs, as they did last night, they are 4-28, a winning percentage of .143. When they have tallied at least three, they are 57-19, .750. They are 39-11, .780, when they have allowed no more than the three runs they did in last night’s loss. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
Cubs lineup:
Cardinals lineup:
Javier Assad, RHP vs. Andre Pallante, RHP
This start was originally going to be Shōta Imanaga’s, but the Cubs announced late Wednesday that Javier Assad would go in this game.
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Assad last pitched Saturday against the Pirates, throwing three scoreless innings and posting a save. He threw only 32 pitches in that game.
He had a very nice start July 5 at Wrigley Field against the Cardinals, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits. Just try to minimize the damage by Masyn Winn, who is 6-for-7 lifetime vs. Assad with a home run.
Also, happy birthday, Javier! He turns 29 today.
Andre Pallante shut out the Cubs for 5.2 innings July 3 at Wrigley Field. Then the Brewers and D-backs hit him pretty hard in his two starts after that, but he again threw a bunch of shutout innings in his last outing, seven of them, allowing two hits to the Reds last Saturday.
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Current Cubs, though, are hitting .343 (34-for-99) against him with four home runs, two of them by Michael Busch, who is 7-for-9 against Pallante.
Hopefully today will be a good day for Busch and the rest of the Cubs hitters.
Here is the weather forecast for the area around Busch Stadium.
Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
MLB.com Gameday
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.
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The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.
You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).
At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.
The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.
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You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.
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